Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

Categories


All categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Add to Google

Subscribe with Bloglines

Wednesday, December 29. 2021

Don't do it


January 1 is when people decide to get back into shape. It is wonderful for the income of gyms, because people pay up and last a few months.


All the same, my general advice to those over 35 or 40 is to start slowly.  If overweight, tiny meals. If underweight, eat food of any sort. Begin with 3 hrs/wk at the gym for a month to get going.


Best way to do it is with a trainer.


I suggest two half-hours of light cardio, 2 half-hours of light weights/machines, and 2 half-hours of calisthenics. After that, a more demanding program.


Most people can use a guide through the journey of physical fitness. It is a lifetime journey to try to avoid eventual decrepitude.



Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Physical Fitness at 14:06 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Or you can hit the Iron Wolf website and start with 300 burpees in a half-hour, and work your way up from there.
#1 Steve on 2021-12-29 16:19 (Reply)
As I am retired, I can afford the time and take very long walks at this point. Mostly strolling and not cardio, but some uphill here in NH, which gets the heart and lungs going more. It is fun to tick off the weekly mileage. As with diets, the first rule is not "What would be best for you?" but "What will you continue to do indefinitely?" I have slowly lost weight, though not snacking at work has probably been part of that as well.
#2 Assistant Village Idiot on 2021-12-29 17:39 (Reply)
After starting and stopping and desk-captaining for way to may years I went whole hog. Trainer 3 days a week, 3 more of cardio stretching. Down a dozen pounds and 3 inches in 2 months. Should hit my goal weight, which I last experienced at 30, by June. Best money I spent in years. Sure cheaper than a heart attack.
#3 Jack on 2021-12-29 18:14 (Reply)
“Physical strength is the most important thing in life. This is true whether we want it to be or not.” - Mark Rippetoe

If you are over 40 (and I imagine just about everyone reading this is), you owe it to yourself to buy and read The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40. Here are the author's website: greysteel.org and YouTube channel: Greysteel YouTube

After you go through the book and other materials, decide for yourself if endless burpees or leisurely walks are really the best way to prepare for your coming years.

BD, this doubly applies to you. Since you are presenting yourself as a reliable source of fitness information, you really must know and understand the information contained in The Barbell Prescription. You may not agree with everything in it, but read it and then come here to discuss those parts with which you find fault.

Oh, and here's more inspiration:

Starting Strength at 86 Years Old with Corki
#4 RJP on 2021-12-29 18:17 (Reply)
First-weekers.
Once a day for the first week, once a week for the first month, once a month the rest of the year.
#5 Another Guy named Dan on 2021-12-30 06:54 (Reply)
For those looking to shed pounds, I suggest cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. When I did that back in 2005-2006, I lost over 100 pounds.
#6 Maniac on 2021-12-30 09:26 (Reply)
"Tiny meals" is easy to say, but hard to accomplish.

I personally have seen great benefit of going towards keto diet: few grains, reduced carbs overall, lots of meat and vegetables.

Even my far from perfect implementation led to a huge reduction in hunger/cravings.

My experience is that workouts help that too. First and foremost, get to the gym. Then start doing things.

Can't do much? Don't worry about it. Rest and do a little more. Challenge yourself with small incremental improvements: 10 sec more on the treadmill, alternate a faster pace 15 sec/min, add a different lift to your routine.

3 weeks you'll see marked improvement. Take that as encouragement to keep at it.
#7 DrTorch (Link) on 2021-12-30 11:04 (Reply)

Add Comment
(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)

By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email
addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications.

Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u],
[url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here.

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed
 
 
A Chris Southern Consulting website.